ENHANCEMENT OF PRINCIPALS’ RELATIONSHIP WITH SCHOOL BASED MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE (SBMC) IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE SOUTH EAST REGION OF NIGERIA

Abstract

The researchers examined enhancement of principals’ relationship with school based management committee (SBMC) in public secondary schools in the South-East Region of Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study is 19,880 which comprised of 994 principals and 18,886 SBMC in the South-East Region of Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to draw 2,239 respondents for the sample of the study. A researcher-developed questionnaire was used for data collection. The instrument was validated by three experts while the reliability of the instrument was ascertained using Cronbach Alpha method and it yielded reliability co-efficient of 0.89 and 0.79 for clusters I and II respectively and the overall coefficient of the entire instrument was 1.68. The researcher together with five research assistants collected data for the study. A 95% return rate of the instrument administered was recorded. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while t-test was used to test the null hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed, among others, that principals’ relationship with SBMC in promoting awareness on benefits of education in the South-East was to a high extent. It was also revealed that principals’ relationship with SBMC in data collection for monitoring and evaluation in public secondary schools in the South-East was also to a high extent. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that principals and members of SBMC should launch media campaigns through television, radio, social media and print. Use compelling stories, testimonials, infographics and success stories to showcase the transformative power of education.